Experts: Variety in Wines is the Spice of Thanksgiving

Take a look at your Thanksgiving dinner table. In addition to somewhat neutral turkey, you probably have highly spiced stuffing that could include anything from oysters to chestnuts to sausage, rich gravy, green bean and/or sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes…

I could go on, but you get the point. It's a diverse meal, and one of my favorites.

With all that variety of flavors and textures, there simply isn't any single wine or other adult beverage that will make all of them taste better. No, not riesling. No, not pinot noir. No, not zinfandel or hard cider either.

That's why I hate traditional Thanksgiving wine pairing columns. My advice? Drink what you like.

For fun, I asked several local winery owners and winemakers what they will be drinking on Thursday. As you can see, those that live and breath wine every day have widely divergent preferences too!

Russell Hearn, Winemaker at and Owner of Suhru Wines:

"Thanksgiving is about shiraz or zinfandel, at the Hearn house. Our family and turkey gathering of 13 will be enjoying Cape Mentelle (Margaret River) Zinfandel -- in my opinion and at many tasting groups -- probably the finest producer of this varietal in the world; A Rafanelli Zinfandel Sonoma, my favorite Zin producer from California; Rockford Shiraz from Barossa Valley; and we will be tossing in the 2009 Suhru Shiraz (North Fork of Long Island) just recently released for fun to show what our area can do'.

Spicy full reds — that's what goes with turkey day, and for the lighter drinkers spicy rose."

Peter Carroll, Owner of :

"What am I drinking for Thanksgiving? I will probably start with a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, sometime around 2 p.m. while I'm cooking. Later, I'll have a negroni (gin, Campari and vermouth), having recently been introduced to them when visiting Rome. I'm not a cocktail person but the Wall Street Journal says the 'cocktail culture is returning, so…

When the serious dinner-related drinking starts, though, it will be all Lenz, all the time: a 2004 Lenz Cuvee, followed by the 2008 Lenz Pinot Gris, then the 2005 Lenz Merlot-Malbec Blend.

But with the main course: a magnum of 1993 Lenz Merlot, still drinking very, very nicely, from this first truly great vintage of the North Fork.

Dessert wine? Gotta be Tokaji Aszu, 6 puttanyos. Yummy. Hold the dessert - - no room. Just the Tokaji!"

Robin Epperson-McCarthy, Assistant Winemaker at :

"This is the first year we are going to my brother in-law's for Thanksgiving. With my in-laws away for the first time, the kids are cooking dinner unsupervised.

I have no idea what most of the meal will consist of but I assume it will be Italian-American Cuisine since his wife is, well, Italian-American. Andrew and I will be deep-frying a turkey in the Louisiana Epperson family tradition.

I plan on pairing the turkey with Kopparbergs Pear Cider — a drink I encountered for the first time at a Swedish wedding this past summer. 

David Page, Co-owner of :

"I have been working on Thanksgiving preparations since Monday. So far I have managed to pick up two 15-pound turkeys from Miloski's Poultry Farm in Wading River. I brought them home, cut them up, and made a stock from the bones. The turkey parts will get a savory rub of sage, mustard seed, black pepper and sea salt — and get roasted just an hour before serving in our wood burning oven. The results are amazing. Crackling skin and juicy evenly cooked meat — all finished in just 45 minutes.

Today, I will make the cranberry sauce and try to finish the shopping: Brussels sprouts and braising greens from Quail Hill Farms, sweet potatoes from Lone Acre, bread for stuffing from Blue Duck Bakery, smoked bluefish and oysters from Southold Fish Market, apples for pie from Wickham's Fruit Farm and whatever else looks enticing along the way.

This year we'll serve our just-released Wickham's Pear Cider, our sold out Rose, and our sparkling wine when guests arrive. We'll serve our new 'Haven' Sauvignon Blanc — Semillon with oven roasted oysters and then have Cabernet Franc and Wild Boar Doe with the big bird. "

Rich Olsen-Harbich, Winemaker at :

"I'll be at my sister and brother in-law's house this Thanksgiving, so being the good house guest that I am, I will drink what is offered. Luckily he is a wine lover and likes to open some very showy bottles.

I'm sure there will be some good Burgundy as well as a couple of California cult cabs. Of course, I'll provide the local flavor. I always like a nice Gewurtz with my Thanksgiving meal so I'll be bringing some 2009 Corey Creek Gewurtz as well as the 2009 Cabernet Franc, both of which I feel suit the table perfectly."

Charles Massoud, Owner of :

"For us Thanksgiving is a family reunion, and we typically have 15 to 20 people. So it is an opportunity to try many different wines from all over the world, different varieties and different vintages.

Likely candidates this year include a couple of very old Bordeaux — Chateau Latour and Chateau Mouton — with significant ullage in the bottles, a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Carmenere from Chile, a red blend and Chenin Blanc from South Africa, a Malbec from Washington state, a couple of Pinot Noir from Germany and, as always, a Vin Rosé from Paumanok, our sweeter rose for those who like their cranberry with the turkey — that wine has very much that flavor. With the chestnut stuffing red wines go very well with the turkey dinner.

And when we run out we will tumble into the cellar to see what else is waiting to be revealed."